I am a recovering coupon queen. Yes, I was one of “those people.” I had bookshelves dedicated to my stocks of razors, shampoos, and hair dyes. I had buckets of toothpaste. I had a 5 inch zippered binder that held all of my coupons in neatly organized card pages so heavy it set off my airbag alarm. I was addicted to the show Extreme Couponing. I even went dumpster diving at the local dump (once). I was a mess.

I left that life once I went hippie. I started making my own toothpaste, so I stopped purchasing it from the store. I made my lotions and my deodorant and I stopped dying my hair. I stopped buying the Sunday paper, but I still love a good deal and happily use coupons whenever I can.

So let me tell you just how happy I am that Groupon now has coupons for major retailers! For instance, Shutterfly has 13 coupon deals right now – including signing up with Shutterfly and getting a custom magnet, address labels, and 50 4×6 prints, all for free! I love Shutterfly’s frequent deals featuring free prints, but I have never seen one with free prints plus free address labels and a magnet!

Overstock.com has Groupon Coupons right now. I will tell you, my favorite set of sheets came from Overstock and I absolutely love the quality. Their deals are already great, but through the end of the month they have up to 70% off their inventory. I see great deals for everything from furniture to jewelry to clothing – and with free shipping!

If you’re traveling, the Marriott has special deals, including saving 20% off room rates and a free breakfast.

I love holiday shopping, and can’t stand paying full price for anything. Be sure to check out Groupon Coupons before you purchase anything online to make sure you are getting the very best deal!

Part two of our frugal holiday series brings me to my latest exciting discovery – Dealspotr!

I am a big fan of Swagbucks, a search engine where you can earn points towards gift cards. Those gift cards were a lifesaver in our early marriage, and we used most of them to pay for groceries.

There are many deals I want to share with you readers. I struggle with sharing deals because I never wanted this blog to become a “deals blog,” partly because that’s not my passion and partly because that’s an awful lot to keep up with. Occasionally I will post deals related to natural living, but that’s about it.

Enter Dealspotr! With Dealspotr, I earn gift cards by posting thrifty deals I find. I also have my own profile “feed” where I share deals I believe my followers will be most interested in. I’m especially excited about this feature, since I can share my favorite deals with you all without changing the focus of my blog.

I’ve been able to play around with how everything works, and I’ve already earned a $20 gift card! This will definitely come in handy this holiday shopping season, as I have some things on my list that can only be ordered online.

Pros:

Using Dealspotr makes it possible to earn gift cards fast! I like Swagbucks, but it takes awhile to earn gift cards without spending money on the shopping or deal features.

Are you ready to make a purchase but want to make sure you’re getting the best deal? Be sure to check out Dealspotr for any coupon or promo codes – if it’s out there, it’s posted and available for you.

I can post my favorite deals on a feed for my followers, which is great for deals that I want to pass on but aren’t necessarily in line with the “voice” I want for this blog.

I can add affiliate links to the deals I share.

I can insert specific Dealspotr deals into blog posts (with affiliate links if I have them!), and if that particular deal expires, it is automatically replaced with a similar product. This way I don’t have to go back and change my posts and links, they stay evergreen.

Gift cards are offered in the form of Amazon gift cards or Paypal. I am especially fond of using my Amazon Prime membership to order things with gift cards, so I’m thankful to have another avenue to earn ways to purchase things I want but don’t want to use our regular family budget to purchase.

Cons:

It took me awhile to navigate the website for the first time and post my first few deals. Once I learned how, it was much easier. It could just be me and my inability to learn new websites quickly. As a bonus, I’m now thoroughly comfortable with how to screen shot deals on my computer.

Adding affiliate links to any deals I share is time-consuming. I generally spend 5-10 hours a week on the blog between writing, marketing, and working on various projects “behind-the-scenes” that no one necessarily sees. I love that I can just earn points by scrolling through and liking/sharing new deals on my Dealspotr feed, but if I want to work on increasing my affiliate income, it’s a bit tedious and time-consuming. I also don’t like that if I share deals with my affiliate links, I don’t earn points towards gift cards like I would without the affiliate links.

Conclusion:

Dealspotr isn’t just for bloggers, everyone can sign up with a profile and earn gift cards! There is huge opportunity to earn lots of free or discounted products using gift cards and shopping through rebate websites! I would highly recommend it as another gift card source.

{This post is sponsored by Dealspotr and contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation in the form of products or money, but all opinions are completely my own. Please read my full disclosure for details.}